Pack Tissues

I can't believe Brianna is about to turn 3 in a month. Where have the past 3 years gone? You can certainly tell they've passed when you look at her photos and videos.

Tonight, Walt and I were sitting and watching something on TV when there was a commercial for the about-to-be-released Blu-Ray version of Bambi. My favorite Disney movie and perhaps my favorite tear-jerker of all time.

(Don't do it! Don't go out into the meadow!!!)

Before any of our kids were even dating seriously, I bought lots of Disney movies on VHS (remember VHS?) so I would have a stock on hand to play when our grandchildren came to visit. I now have quite an outdated stash of Disney films, but nobody has VHS any more, so some day I will just give them all to the thrift store, I guess.

When starting to build my Disney library for all those grandchidren I knew we would have running in and out of the house and spending time here with us while their parents were--lord knows where--the first tape I bought was Bambi.

I wish I could remember the first time I ever saw Bambi. Undoubtedly it was in a theater, but since the movie was released a year before I was born, it's pretty clear that I didn't see it first run. I know I saw it several times throughout my young years.

I remember vividly the first time I took Jeri to see it. She didn't exactly see it because she wouldn't be born for another month yet, but it came around in one of the Disney cycles and I had to see it.

It was playing in a little theatre on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley. Walt refused to go with me, but he dropped me off so I could see it. There was a line of mothers and children and I was the only one there without a child. I remember talking to a little girl who was next to me in line so it would look like I was with her and nobody would talk about this pregnant lady there to see the movie, without having a child with her.

And I sobbed all the way through it. No kidding...all the way through it. It started with the opening credits, then that cute little newborn fawn and the friendships he made. Then he dashes off into the thicket when the hunters come, certain that he and Mother have escaped them.

Then wandering through the snow calling "Mother! Mother" until his scary father, the big stag, finds him and lets him know his mother is dead.

What pregnant woman with raging hormones isn't going to sit and sob and sob and sob. If I remember correctly, I sat in the theatre for awhile after the movie ended so I didn't have to leave with my face all blotchy from crying.

Why do we think moves filled with such tragedy and scary stuff is good for kids? But it must be, because it's still my favorite feature cartoon. And so I've ordered the Blu Ray to give to Bri for her birthday. Maybe we'll have time to sit and watch it together.

I'll be the one with the box of Kleenex in my lap.